The first ever record of the number of charity shops on UK high streets revealed that England alone had over 9,400

New research into charity shop volume on UK high streets has found there are currently 11,249 charity outlets across the country.

The research, which the Charity Retail Association (CRA) told Retail Sector was the “first of its kind”, found that England alone has 9,437 charity shops on its streets.

CRA says the research was conducted in order to pursue its public affairs objectives, which include charity shop volunteering, retail Gift Aid, rate relief for charity shops and “promoting charity shops as environmental beacons and community hubs in British society”.

The research found that after England, Scotland had the most charity shops with 963 followed by Wales with 549 and Northern Ireland with 300. More than 8,700 UK charity shops are members of the CRA.

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Robin Osterley, CRA chief executive, said: “Our hard-working research team have done a great job in producing the most comprehensive and reliable set of statistics available anywhere on UK charity shops. We are determined to fulfil our strategic plan goal of being a trusted and respected repository of information about the sector and its performance.”